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Friday, April 11, 2014

(In the past, Arizona's Politics has not published campaign "announcements" about fundraising efforts before they have filed the report with the FEC or the Arizona Secretary of State, and all of the numbers can be looked at in context. Some campaigns have been known to "cherry pick" the favorable parts of the report and leave out the negatives. However, this quarter, we will experiment with reporting the announcements and following up with comparing it to the actual report. We will not update our spreadsheet, however, until the report is available.... If you would like to ensure that Arizona's Politics reports your campaign's announcement, please email it to the address listed on the top of this page.)

Roll Call is reporting that retired Air Force Col. Martha McSally raised $449,000 in the first three months of 2014, in her race to unseat Arizona Rep. Ron Barber (D-CD2). She did not disclose to the reporter how much was in her bank account on March 31, although it likely increased her previous bank balance of $548,000 significantly.

(It is likely less than the incumbent's cash on hand - based on their warchests as of December 31 and that she incurred some expenses during the quarter.)

McSally faces some competition for the GOP nomination to face Barber, but her name recognition from her previous close races and the money advantage makes her the heavy favorite in the August primary. McSally barely lost to Barber in 2012 and the seat is expected to be one of the most hotly-contested in the nation.

While the candidate's fundraising is significant, the money raised and spent by the candidates to date - and, likely throughout the campaign - is going to be DWARFED by the amount spent on TV ads by outside groups. Already, outside groups are running ads practically matching that dollar figure, both supporting and hammering Barber.

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